Friday, 14 December 2007

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Nicole Kidman wins damages in perfume suit

Actress did not carry rival perfume

Nicole Kidman has come out of a court case smelling like a rose – or, at least, Chanel No. 5.

The Oscar winner and Chanel model, 40, has accepted damages from the British newspaper the Daily Telegraph for wrongly reporting that she had breached provisions in her promotional contract for Chanel No. 5 perfume, the Associated Press reports.

Kidman's lawyer, John Kelly, said his client suffered significant embarrassment and distress over the fabricated Telegraph story, which was published last month. The newspaper's "Spy" column said that when Kidman hit the U.K. to promote her new movie with Daniel Craig, The Golden Compass, she carried a bottle of a rival fragrance.

Kidman was not in the London court on Friday to hear the decision, and details of the settlement – which Kelly termed "substantial" – are not being disclosed. The attorney did say, however, that Kidman would donate whatever damages she'll be awarded to the United Nations Development Fund for Women.

He also said that the newspaper had determined that its source for the story had made it up.

Stephen M. Silverman